Ninh Binh was also once the capital of Dai Co Viet (now Viet Nam) from 968 to 1010 with a lot of historical cultural and religious relics gathered in Hoa Lu Ancient Capital. Ninh Binh is famous for Phat Diem Cathedral, Bai Dinh Pagoda Non Nuoc Pagoda, etc. These are favorable conditions for the development of Ninh Binh Tourism.

In the recent years, Ninh Binh Tourism has been growing fast. During the period from 2007 to 2011, the average growth of number of tourists to Ninh Binh was 24.58% annually, total tourism receipts growth being 60.55% annually. In 2011, there were 3.6 million tourist arrivals to Ninh Binh, total tourism receipts reached 655 billion VND. In 2012, there were over 3.7 million tourist arrivals to Ninh Binh, up 14.1 % over 2011, total tourism receipts reached 728 billion VND.

To gain these results, in the past years, tourism promotion has always been paid attention. Ninh Binh has built its symbol and slogan "Charming Ninh Binh" which helps to promote the brand and the image of Ninh Binh tourism consistently and professionally. Advertising and promoting activities have been organized in diversified forms.

Regarding tourism promotion activities, in 2012, Ninh Binh took part in the International Tourism Fair in Ho Chi Minh City (ITE 2012); organized famtrips to survey tourist areas in Ninh Binh to develop tourism products; signed tourism cooperation agreements with 10 provinces and cities: Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Thua Thien Hue and Can Tho in order to strengthen and exchange information as well as co-ordinate and participate in joint domestic and overseas tourism promotion campaigns; joined the field trip along East-West economic corridor and the International Conference "Cooperation for tourism and economic development in East-West economic corridor " in Quang Tri; participated in workshop on :Demand and development trend of international tourists to Vietnam"; promoted activities of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Department on the web portal ninhbinhtourism.com.vn in 3 languages English, French, Vietnamese. Not only paying attention to promoting the tourism image of the province within the country, Ninh Binh has outlined plans to promote tourism in key markets as Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Northeast Asia... via tourism publications in several languages: English, French, Japanese, Chinese which are suitable for the characteristics of each market. In 2012, Ninh Binh also joined Thailand Travel Mart Plus (TTM +); took part in the roadshow and international tourism fair of JATA in Japan ... In these events, Ninh Binh focused on promoting the global outstanding values of Trang An landscapes. Through the publications in Japanese, English and French languages as tourist Guidebook; Ninh Binh Tourism Map, leaflets, brochures, CD-ROM..., the unique images of cultural and ecological tourism of Ninh Binh were also introduced.

By 2015, Ninh Binh targets to welcome 6 million tourist arrivals, including 1 million international arrivals; attract 1 million overnight arrivals, of which 350,000 are international ones. It is expected that from 2015 onwards, the average growth rate of tourist arrivals is 10% per year; Total tourism receipts by 2015 reach 1,500 billion VND, and accounts for over 10% of the province's GDP from 2020 onwards.

To achieve these aims, in the coming time, Ninh Binh will continue to push up tourism promotion, concentrating in the key markets, trying to develop Ninh Binh to become one of the tourist hubs of the country.

Thu Thuy